If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 53

Her head swayed left and right, as if on a boat tossed by a storm. In her dream, she had boarded a large ship only to be met by a tempest. There was a hand that swiftly grabbed the shoulder of Chaehwa, who was stomping her feet, saying it was a ticket she had gotten with great difficulty.

“My lady.”

“Huh?”

Wiping the drool from her face, Chaehwa looked around. Yeonseo, sitting next to her, was looking at Chaehwa with an ambiguous smile.

“You told me to wake you… if you were dozing off.”

“Right. Good job, good job.”

Chaehwa tapped her own cheeks and forced her eyes open. Skipping the parts she had missed, she quickly began to copy down all of Teacher Myungil’s words.

Teacher Myungil, as if burdened by Chaehwa not sleeping and concentrating on the lesson, was conducting the class with his back to her.

Slap, slap. The sound of the young lady slapping her own cheeks could be heard in the middle of class, but no one gave her so much as a disapproving look. Was it because Chaehwa’s sincerity was so palpable? Nine out of ten would have simply wished for her to fall asleep, but Chaehwa pinched her thighs and endured it somehow.

Yirok likes my notes. She had clearly seen him gaping, his mouth wide open. For the last 10 minutes, she couldn’t fight off sleep and her handwriting became like a worm’s trail, but she successfully finished today’s note-taking.

“All done.”

Isn’t this a perfect study for morning training? In the classroom where Teacher Myungil was groaning, Chaehwa hummed as she brushed off the eraser shavings from her notebook.

Sometimes, you need fresh stimulation besides cell phone games.

🌹₊ ⊹

Chaehwa, who did not need to receive formal training, had lunch at a pavilion with a nice view and then had personal free time. Her grandmother hoped she would use that time for reading or studying Jeongmusa, but Chaehwa enjoyed wasting it frivolously on cell phone games, movies, and dramas.

But things are different these days. Yeonrye or others probably report to her grandmother from time to time, so she more than likely knows. The entire household, that is. They would say that Chaehwa doesn’t doze off in class, and that she doesn’t have dark circles under her eyes from staying up all night on her phone.

The proof was that her grandmother hadn’t summoned her for a few days. Chaehwa hummed a tune and hugged the notebook she had written in so hard her nails could have broken.

Her boredom had increased with Yirok being bedridden, but she had found a different kind of fun. The time spent with the uncharacteristically gentle Yirok made one side of her chest feel ticklish.

At a time when she had become awkward with her closest friend Shinwoo, Yirok had emerged as Chaehwa’s new friend. If it was one-sided before, lately it felt like it was becoming mutual. With his temper subdued, he reads what Chaehwa has written down without missing a thing. He even received a new notebook and studies by referencing Chaehwa’s notes, doesn’t he? Just the thought of it made Chaehwa’s toes wiggle, and she forgot she was walking and laughed out loud.

“Excuse me, my lady.”

“Ack!”

The infirmary room where Yirok was lying was a secluded guest room, used to avoid her grandmother’s gaze. For the treatment process, Old Lady Yomyung prepared medicine, and Chaehwa would stop by occasionally to correct his disordered energy. Shinwoo and Chaho were being punished by sweeping and cleaning the area near the dorms every day. Though the person concerned, Yirok, was indifferent when he heard the story. In any case, she wanted to make up for the ordeal he had suffered.

“Jangshi. Why did you follow me all the way here?”

Therefore, the fact that Yirok was recuperating here was known only to a very few. Chaehwa had strictly enforced secrecy, but a secret lasts longer the fewer people know. Yirok wasn’t eating well, so his recovery was slow. If her grandmother found out, it wouldn’t be a matter that ended with a switch.

But the person who had followed her all the way to the secluded guest room was none other than Jangshi. The child, who had never spoken to her before, was standing there holding a basket of tangerines.

“Give… this, to Yirok Haenang.”

“Tangerines? Does Yirok like tangerines?”

Jangshi not only had no intention of tattling, but was on Yirok’s side. Reassured, Chaehwa accepted the basket of tangerines with a welcoming expression. Even without tasting them, they were sure to be plump and delicious tangerines.

But after handing over the item, Jangshi didn’t leave, lingering and mumbling. Chaehwa, who was gently tucking the notebook into the basket of tangerines, tilted her head and asked.

“Why? Is there something you want to say?”

“Is he, by any chance, very sick? Yirok Haenang?”

It was a very commendable thing for colleagues to worry and care for each other. Besides, for an outsider like Yirok, tangerines and friendship would be more important than anything. But at that moment, Chaehwa’s eyes caught Jangshi’s shortened bangs. The added flutter of excitement in her gaze of concern for a colleague was also blatantly exposed. When the winter wind blew, revealing Jangshi’s tiny face, a corner of Chaehwa’s chest grew uncomfortable.

“My lady?”

“Um, well. Ah! He’ll be fine soon.”

“Then… if it’s not a bother, could you take me with you?”

There was no reason to refuse Jangshi, who was asking to be tagged along like a bargain item. Should I have said he was hovering between life and death from sickness? Chaehwa was inwardly surprised by the bad thought that was quietly raising its head. She had only now realized her own inner desire not to have her private time with him disturbed.

As Chaehwa stopped talking and just stared, Jangshi also stopped and waited. Jangshi was the first to lower her gaze and began to bite her nails. Chaehwa’s once-bright face took on a cold glint from that point on.

“Why… are you trying not to take me.”

That was a problem Chaehwa had to figure out for herself. It was a surprise even to herself that she enjoyed monopolizing Yirok more than she had thought. But there was no reason to explain that to Jangshi, a Haenang of much lower rank. Chaehwa was in the middle of switching hands to return the tangerine basket.

Dark clouds blocked the bright sun, and Chaehwa was instantly trapped in shadow. As the sound of Jangshi’s neck bone snapping was heard, her smile became increasingly useless. Chaehwa nonchalantly watched Jangshi’s hair soar toward the sky. Her fingernails, which had grown long like spider legs, looked as if they could pierce a person’s stomach at any moment. Chaehwa had seen the process of one person becoming one Yogwi so very many times.

[Cooperate with me. For the past few days, this child has been thinking about that boy so much.]

It seemed the Yogwi could emerge when its host, Jangshi’s body, became weak or her mind became confused. In truth, since it was not common for a Yogwi and a person to live in one body, Jangshi could be called a living experiment.

Nanjubeol was very accepting, but they had not taken Jangshi in for purely good reasons. If not for Chaehwa’s strong recommendation, Jangshi would have likely remained merely a candidate for consideration.

“It has been a while.”

[What you all do is so amusing. This foolish girl is one thing, but you too are being swayed by a boy.]

“Me?”

[The young lady of that Nanjubeol. Jealousy….]

The voice that combined male and female, the clouds that covered the sun, the black pupils that filled the eyeballs—it was enough to give one goosebumps, but for Chaehwa it was daily life. With an indifferent face, Chaehwa set down the tangerine basket and smiled brightly.

“Jangshi, you have a truly bad memory.”

[What?]

Just as the Yogwi was baring its fangs, Chaehwa made her move. Her hand, graceful as a butterfly, grabbed the Yogwi’s jaw. A grip strength one would not expect to come from such a slender body squeezed the Yogwi’s jaw as if to crush it.

“I told you to stay out of sight as much as possible. Don’t you remember?”

[You…!]

Under the dark clouds, Chaehwa’s one shining eye was even more visible. The moment it saw her right eye, engraved with the character for ‘heaven,’ the Yogwi gasped as if it had swallowed a fireball. It could not help but know who had imprisoned it in the body of a lowly human, who had put a leash on its neck.

“I can annihilate you. The reason I haven’t is because there is a right time for everything.”

[…You are a wicked girl. Does the head of Nanjubeol know you are this kind of girl?]

“My grandmother knows. And she doesn’t know.”

[Do you not fear heaven? A Jeongmusa like you.]

“A Yogwi speaks of heaven. So you too have something you seek when you are scared.”

[Someone like you….]

“If you have time, resent Sarira. It was that woman who summoned you and bound you.”

Chaehwa added more strength to the hand holding its jaw. The Yogwi shook its head frantically, but Chaehwa’s smile only deepened.

“And be quiet. Stop bothering Jangshi. If you come to see me one more time, I’ll test out on you a way to torment a Yogwi without bringing it out.”

At that moment, as soon as the words were spoken, the dark clouds receded, and Jangshi’s hair, which had stood on end as if from static electricity, calmly settled down. Jangshi, having returned to her good-natured self, discovered the hand covering her mouth and her eyes grew as wide as saucers.

“Oh, my lady… surely, did I.”

“No. Nothing happened. That Jangshi says such nasty things. It must be hard for you.”

“No, it isn’t. Thanks to Nanjubeol, I’m at least, living like a person.”

Chaehwa let go of Jangshi and quickly picked up the tangerine basket. Jangshi did not remember it, but the ritual to put the Yogwi to sleep had been performed by Chaehwa, not her grandmother.

It was something Jangshi did not need to know. That Sarira bitch had planted the Yogwi in Jangshi’s body to kill her—that was a fact only Chaehwa knew.

Some things did not need to be revealed. Especially things that would make her grandmother shudder, like a person burned by a fire being startled even by the hearth.

“Jangshi. Later, when Yirok feels better, let’s go visit him together. He’s a little sensitive right now.”

“…Yes.”

Jangshi hesitated, then turned to leave. Watching the disappearing Jangshi, Chaehwa erased the smile she had been forcing.

A cold winter wind swept past Chaehwa’s hands as she held the basket of tangerines.

Winter is a season that descends with a pale and gentle face, and snatches away even what is in a baby’s hand. Chaehwa walked as if sweeping the floor, a bitter expression on her face.